For twin boys who were separated in a life-threatening operation, it's no surprise their favourite film star was an amputee.

Now Hussein and Hassan Benhaffaf, once conjoined from chest to pelvis, have met their hero - a dolphin who lost her tail when she was just a calf.

The four-year-olds from County Cork, Ireland, were on holiday at Florida's Clearwater Marine Aquarium where they met Winter the bottlenose dolphin, star of the 2011 family film Dolphin Tale.

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Heartwarming: Hussein (left) and Hassan Benhaffaf meet their screen hero - a dolphin who lost her tail

We're not too different: While the twins (pictured left with their two sisters) were separated in a life-threatening operation at just five months, Winter the dolphin was three months old when her tail had to be amputated

The twins were separated in a rare operation at Great Ormond Street Hospital in February 2010 when they were just five months old.

They had their liver, bladder, gut and intestine divided in a highly complex procedure which was described at the time as a near-miraculous success.

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They have been under the knife several times since and Hussein returned to the London hospital last summer to undergo surgery for an incisional hernia, believed to have been caused by wounds from the first operation not fully healing.

His mother Angie Benhaffaf said last year: ‘It’s the first time since they were separated that I’ve absolutely feared I’d lose one of them.

'I worried that Hussein wasn’t going to live through that night. I was terrified.’

Rare condition: The twins were born with their liver, bladder, gut and intestine all joined

Fragile: The plight of the boys captured the hearts of the nation after they were split at a London hospital

Bouncing toddlers: The twins pictured three years on from the operation in Carrigtwohill, County Cork, Ireland

Angie and her husband Azzedine work as full-time carers to the twins.

She said: ‘Some days I wake up and feel that it’s all too much, too tough. Then I remind myself that I have to be positive for my children.'

But the family have had a rare break as they decamped to Florida for a holiday together with the twins' sisters Malika, 10 and Iman, six.

They were taken to meet Winter with the help of the aquarium's trainer Cammie Zodrow and two prosthetics experts who helped fit Winter with a fake tail.

Since starring in the film, the dolphin has become a prime attraction at the aquarium.

Inspiring: 2011's Dolphin Tale starred Morgan Freeman and followed Winter as she was given a prosthetic tail

Proud parents: Hassan (left) and Hussein with their mother Angie and father Azzedine in their Irish home

At just three months old, she became trapped in a crab trap line off the Florida coast and was unable to escape.

When she washed up at a lagoon, rescuers had no choice but to amputate her tail and two vertebrae due to the seriousness of her injuries.

The film about her life grossed almost $100million at the box office, most of it in the U.S., and a sequel is due out later this year.